Showing posts with label Christian Straube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Straube. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Translation Tuesday: Benguela Railway: The Glory of “Made in China”

By Christian Straube

Authors: Zhu Jianhong, Zhang Baojun and Long Jiamin
Translator: Christian Straube
Published on: 15/05/04
Source: People’s Daily

Original text (in Chinese): http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2015/0504/c1004-26941139.html

The Benguela Railway was officially inaugurated on February 2015 after rehabilitation by the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation. Initially a colonial project by the Portuguese at the end of the 19th century, it integrated with the Katanga Railway, and now connects the African Copperbelt with the harbor of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.
---- Christian Straube

The Benguela Railway, which has been built by Chinese in the African country of Angola, is the longest railway built by a Chinese company overseas in the 21st century.

It is a railway filled with glory. When it was opened on February 14, the presidents of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Zambia took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. They also interacted with the meritorious people representing the construction: Liu Feng, Chen Lei, and Ma Junfeng of the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR20).

It is a railway full of blood and sweat. Over a period of more than ten years, more than ten thousand of CR20's staff helped with the construction. They suffered from land mines, malaria, a shortage of materials, and worsening security conditions. They had to overcome language, traffic, and communication difficulties as well as the discomforting climate. Several workers sacrificed their lives.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Translation Tuesday: China Nonferrous Metals News: China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group goes off the beaten path

By Christian Straube

Author: Wang Changming
Translator: Christian Straube
Published on: 04/09/2015
Source: Zambia-China Economic & Trade Cooperation Zone
Original text (in Chinese): http://zccz.cnmc.com.cn/detailtem.jsp?column_no=070402&article_millseconds=1425629687000

 China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Corporation's leadership
In March of 2015, China held the famous "two meetings." [the annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) - Winslow] On March 5, the third meeting of the Twelfth National People's Congress was held in Beijing and, in the morning, Premier Li Keqiang delivered an exciting government work report. Luo Tao, general manager of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Corporation [CNMC Group] and member of the NPC was impressed by the report, as the focus on state-owned enterprise reform has highly raised expectations. Like him, the non-ferrous industry is being guided and inspired by a mission: to perform duties conscientiously; to build the non-ferrous industry; and to share wisdom in order to promote the healthy development of the nation's economic power! 

"All people work together, going to the same direction." Achieving a better "China Dream" is a glorious and career goal; building the non-ferrous metals industry is a long way to go on in that direction. Dream in front of the road. Only one non-ferrous industry leader has cultivated more maturity, more power, more flexibility, more ability in order to better promote the construction of non-ferrous industrial world power step by step into a brilliant reality. In fact, the non-ferrous industry in recent years has been actively responding to major national development initiatives, deepening reform, improving quality and efficiency, strengthening management, greater efforts interpretation of adversity and strong one after another glorious chapter, the emergence of a large number of outstanding Enterprise Group. Among these, the CNMC Group's development is particularly significant. The Group successfully entered into the Fortune 500. Behind the rapid growth of CNMC is a road of transformation, innovation, and strong culture and technology. 

Let us analyze the China Nonferrous Metals Group, to understand how this thriving enterprise has operated in recent years, which blazes a path for the future development of the non-ferrous metals industry, and provides valuable experience for the reform of state-owned state-owned enterprises.
---- Original Chinese editor's note

On 29 January 2015, Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China member and Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang addressed China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Corporation with an important remark. He encouraged the CNMC Group “to continue focussing on core business, strengthening management, attaching importance to effectiveness, and constantly raising the level of competitiveness when ‘going out’ in order to further increase China’s natural resource security.” It was the third consecutive year that Premier Li Keqiang gave important instructions to the group. This reflects the importance that the Central Committee and the State Council attach to and what they expect of China’s non-ferrous metals industry and the CNMC Group in particular.

As a matter of fact, the CNMC Group received the attention of Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Gaoli, Li Yuanchao, Hu Chunhua, Qiangba Puncog, Chang Wanquan, Wang Yong, Ma Peihua, and other party and state leaders in 2014. Since 2015, Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan, Zhang Gaoli, Wang Yang, Wen Jiabao, Chang Wanquan, Guo Shengkun, Wang Yong, and other party and state leaders, as well as Xu Shaoshi, Zhang Yi and more than 20 provincial leaders, have made important comments regarding the CNMC Group. They have high expectations for the group’s development.

The group’s general manager Luo Tao, delegate to the 12th National People’s Congress, said: “This caring encourages new vitality. The CNMC Group always bears in mind with what it was entrusted and what is expected of it by the party and the country. It takes on the mission of state-owned enterprises and stands firm on its pathway to grow better and stronger. Right now, the group strides forward towards the dream of becoming a mining enterprise of international standing.”

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Monday, September 15, 2014

The Chinese Aid White Paper: Beyond the Numbers (1/2)


The latest Chinese white paper on foreign aid was released on July 10. Looking at Chinese foreign assistance from 2010 to 2012, the paper reveals that China has given a cumulative total of $14.4 billion, half of which went to Africa. To get some more context on the white paper itself as well as the rhetoric behind the white paper, host Winslow Robertson asked Ms. Marina Rudyak and Mr. Christian Straube to come on the pod. Ms. Rudyak holds an M.A. in Modern and Classical Chinese Studies and Public Law from the University of Heidelberg. After graduating in 2009 with a thesis on the People’s Republic of China’s energy security policy in Central Asia she worked in the Beijing office of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). In April 2014, she re-joined the Institute of Chinese studies as an assistant to pursue her PhD on Chinese foreign aid and China’s role in international development. Christian Straube is a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany. Mr. Straube runs the website http://www.christianstrau.be/ which looks at China's relations with copperbelt African countries. He also translates Chinese documents into English. They are lending their expertise to look carefully at the text of the white paper itself and its significance beyond the numbers.